Choppertown is the world’s first documentary about the renowned hot rod and motorcycle club, the Sinners. Modern day greasers, the Sinners are all about the old school. None of them are old enough to have experienced the hot rod heydays of the ’50s and ’60s, but still they live on the edge of society chopping cars and bikes and searching for vintage parts to make their “Rat Rods”, “Trumps”, “Mercs”, and “Bobbers” into rolling works of art.
In the opening of the film, we are introduced to Sinner Kutty Noteboom as he arrives at fellow Sinner Rico’s shop with a beat up old bike frame in the trunk of his ’54 Chevy. Rico, the resident master of all things motorcycle, has a good look at the frame and proclaims it “a good piece, a good start.”
With that, the process (and the adventure) begins. Several more Sinners arrive at the shop to have some beers and help out with Kutty’s bike and they work into the evening swapping stories and wrenching on the bike.
The film takes Rico and Kutty on a voyage to Orange, CA where their friend Jimmy White helps them fabricate a mean set of pipes for Kutty’s rapidly evolving chopper.
From there they head up north to Salinas, on the anniversary of James Dean’s demise, right through the same intersection where the young star met his fate, ironically, while he was also traveling to Salinas.
Once there all hell breaks loose as they venture into Automodown with Jason Jessee, the Sinner Nomad ex-pro skater turned chopper-builder. Kutty is given a comical and macabre “Baby Tank” as a gift and he knows he’ll need to use his imagination to figure out what to do with it.
Sinner Nomad Cole Foster’s place is just up the road so they pay him a visit and entreat him to put his hands on the bike by creating a beautiful hand-made tank from the Baby Tank’s underpinnings.
Back in Southern California, Kutty’s bike is completed and his Sinner brothers are there to watch him kick it over. It takes a few tries, but when the bike starts the emotion is real. With tears welling in his eyes, Rico watches the guys celebrate the sweet sound of Kutty’s chopper as it revs and purrs, asking to be taken out and cut loose.
As Kutty finally joins the pack, we feel what it is to be free on the road, troubles left behind. The sound of your brothers’ bikes filling your ears, a glint of pride in your eyes.
Watch Choppertown:The Sinners HERE
